Family overpowered by a legal loophole

Herald Sun
Monday 30/7/2007 Page: 14

A VICTORIAN family is being forced to give away enough electricity to power 34 homes a day. Grant and Sue Taresch spent $300,000 setting up a wind turbine at the Elgo Estate vineyard and winery in Strathbogie. The 150kW turbine supplies all the winery's needs and the other half of its output - hundreds of thousands of kilowatt hours - goes into the power grid each year. Energy companies sell the power but don't pay the winery.

Mr Taresch said the power companies were taking advantage of a loophole in the law. "The Act says the power companies have to deal with small producers who generate up to 100kW of electricity," he said. "Because we have a 150kW turbine they don't have to deal with us the same way they have to deal with other small producers. "They only want to deal with the really big suppliers, but are happy enough to take our power for nothing and on-sell it."

The turbine at Elgo Estate was switched on in January and has been pumping power back into the grid since then. It has an estimated life of 30 years and Mr Taresch said he hoped it would pay for itself in power bill savings in 10 years. "It definitely would if we were getting some sort of rebate for the excess power we're producing," he said. Mr Taresch said the Elgo Estate turbine saves more than 400 tonnes of greenhouse gases being pumped into the atmosphere every year.

Greens Senate candidate Richard Di Natale said Mr Taresch should be supported, not ripped off. "Retailers should be forced through regulation to purchase the power back off someone who takes this sort of leadership," Mr Di Natale said. "How are we going to stop climate change when we can't get something this simple off the ground. "He's being lumped in with businesses whose core job is to generate power. "In Victoria there's no incentive for these guys. "They're giving their excess power away."